A new national collaboration of asthma genetics researchers has revealed a novel gene associated with the disease in African-Americans, and study confirmed the significance of four gene associations reported by a European asthma genetics study.
A GWAS found two genetic variations that predict which patients with Hodgkin's lymphoma are likely to develop radiation-induced second cancers years after treatment. This could help physicians reduce the risks for susceptible patients. Younger patients and those who receive more radiation are most at risk.
Hospitalized patients who had conversations about religion and spirituality with the healthcare team were the most satisfied with their overall care. However, 20 percent of patients who would have valued these discussions say their desires went unmet.
Genetic instructions for developing limbs and digits were present in primitive fish millions of years before their descendants first crawled on to land, University of Chicago researchers have discovered. The result suggests that the recipe for limb development is conserved in species separated by 400 million years of evolution.
A study of more than 1,000 patients with colon cancer that had spread to distant sites found that one in eight was treated with at least one drug regimen that was not recommended. Those patients were exposed to significant risk without proven benefits, at an estimated cost—just for the drugs—of more than $2 million.
The first study of the social and ethical issues associated with a novel treatment for ulcerative colitis has found that most potential patients are eager for what is now called "fecal microbiota transplantation" to become available, although many have concerns about donor selection, screening, and methods of delivery.
Cutting back on sleep drastically reduces a healthy young man's testosterone levels, with a host of negative health effects.
A new comparison of proteins shared across species finds that complex organisms, including humans, have accumulated structural weaknesses that may have actually launched the long journey from microbe to man. The study, published in Nature, suggests that the random introduction of errors into proteins, rather than traditional natural selection, may have boosted the evolution of biological complexity.
Arsenic exposure and smoking each elevate the risk of disease. But when combined together, the danger of dying from cardiovascular disease is magnified, a new study finds.
University of Chicago evolutionary biologist Neil Shubin has been elected a Member of the National Academy of Sciences and honored with a prestigious national teaching award.
The effects of nicotine upon brain regions involved in addiction mirror those of cocaine, according to new neuroscience research. A single 15-minute exposure to nicotine caused a long-term increase in the excitability of neurons involved in reward, according to a University of Chicago study published in The Journal of Neuroscience.
In the largest study of it kind to establish a link between sleep and diabetes, researchers found that people with diabetes who sleep poorly have higher insulin resistance, and a harder time controlling the disease.
In modern ecology, the removal or addition of a predator to an ecosystem can produce dramatic changes in the population of prey species. For the first time, scientists have observed the same dynamics in the fossil record, thanks to a mass extinction that decimated ocean life 360 million years ago.
A new study of older diabetes patients has found that well-controlled blood sugar levels were associated with a lower risk of major complications but the very lowest blood sugar levels were associated with a small but significant increased risk of death.
For some people, alcohol is a social lubricant. For others, it's an unpleasant downer. New research shows that a person's response to alcohol can predict their future drinking behavior, including their frequency of binge drinking and the risk of developing an alcohol-use disorder.
The mystery of biodiversity – how thousands of similar species can co-exist in a single ecosystem – might best be understood as the result of a massive rock-paper-scissors tournament, a new study has revealed.
At its annual cancer symposium, the Society of Surgical Oncology will present the 43rd annual James Ewing Layman's Award to Kimberly T. Duchossois of Barrington Hills, Ill., for her deep commitment and long-term efforts to improve the quality of cancer treatment and help cancer patients get information they need to make wise decisions about their care.
The most popular model used by geneticists for the last 35 years to detect the footprints of human evolution may overlook more common subtle changes, a new international study finds.
Many women who survive breast and gynecologic cancers want medical help for their sexual issues, but most do not get it.
Blocking a factor that can activate the human immune response against intestinal bacteria or certain foods could prevent the development of celiac disease.
Sharon O'Keefe, a nationally recognized authority on hospital operations, health care quality, patient satisfaction and employee engagement, has been named President of the University of Chicago Medical Center, effective February 23, 2011.
Male splendid fairy-wrens, a sexually promiscuous small bird native to Australia, are known to sing a special song each time they hear the call of one of their predators, the butcherbirds. New research from the University of Chicago finds that this seemingly dangerous behavior actually serves as a call to potential mates – a flirtation using fear.
A SCUBA expedition in Australia and New Zealand to find the rare embryos of an unusual shark cousin enabled American and British researchers to confirm new developmental similarities between fish and mammals. The study confirms that organisms separated by hundreds of millions of years of evolution share similar genetic programs for body formation.
Although the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic infected an estimated 60 million people and hospitalized more than 250,000 in the United States, it also brought one significant benefit—clues about how to make a vaccine that could protect against multiple strains of influenza.
New genes that have evolved in species as little as one million years ago – a virtual blink in evolutionary history – can be just as essential for life as ancient genes, startling new research has discovered. The University of Chicago study challenges evolutionary biology assumptions about the importance of new genes in development.
The performance of a brain-machine interface designed to help paralyzed subjects move objects with their thoughts is improved with the addition of a robotic arm providing sensory feedback, a new study from the University of Chicago finds.
A two-day conference at the University of Chicago Medical Center is designed to offer surgeons a peek at the profession's future. It focuses on new molecular and mechanical solutions to three age-old problems: preventing the breakdown of anastomoses, improving tissue healing after surgery and developing new tools to test and sharpen surgical skills.
Black, Asian, and Native American children are more likely than white and Hispanic children to die after being treated for neuroblastoma, according to new research on the pediatric cancer. The study is the largest ever to look at racial disparities in risk and survival for the most common solid cancer found in young children.
Cutting back on sleep reduces the benefits of dieting. When dieters got a full night's sleep, half of the weight they lost was fat. When they cut back on their sleep, only one-fourth of their weight loss came from fat. Sleep-deprived dieters also produced higher levels of ghrelin, a hormone that triggers hunger and reduces energy expenditure.
First randomized clinical trial to compare treatments; patient's mother: "It works." An anorexia nervosa treatment strategy that promotes parental involvement in restoring an adolescent to healthy weight and eating habits is more effective than traditional individual-based anorexia nervosa therapy, according to new research.
Greater numbers of depression, anxiety, oppositional defiant disorder, and conduct disorder symptoms at ages 4 to 6 among children with ADHD robustly predicted risk for depression during adolescence.
The first oral medication for multiple sclerosis was approved today by the Food & Drug Administration. Physicians praised the decision to approve the drug, called fingolimod, saying it would give multiple sclerosis patients new options for treatment.
Three out of five residents surveyed came to work while sick, possibly exposing their patients and colleagues to suboptimal performance and communicable disease. One out of three did so more than once. At one hospital, 100 percent of residents worked when sick. More than half of resident physicians surveyed said they didn't have time to see a doctor.
Changing how a person perceives and thinks about others was the most effective intervention for loneliness, a sweeping analysis of previous research has determined. The findings may help physicians and psychologists develop better treatments for loneliness, a known risk factor for heart disease and other health problems.
Many middle-aged and older adults with diabetes are sexually active, according to a new survey. Seventy percent of partnered men with diabetes and 62 percent of partnered women with diabetes engaged in sexual activity two or three times a month, comparable to those without diabetes. The disease takes a toll, however, on the desire for and rewards of sexual activity.
Two studies point to a new way to a vaccinate against drug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus -- also known as MRSA. One counteracts the bacteria's tools for evading the immune system; the other disrupts the germ's tissue-damaging mechanism. The combination may protect people from MRSA and provide lasting immunity.
One of the largest and most comprehensive collaborations to understand the structure and dynamic function of membrane proteins was officially launched Tuesday with a 5-year, $22.5 million grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences.
A genetic variant implicated in several cancers by genome-wide association studies (GWAS) has been found to drive increased expression of a known oncogene in the prostate.
Twenty-five families who have overcome diabetes caused by a single-gene defect will gather at "Celebrating the Miracles," a University of Chicago symposium for patients, parents and physicians, designed to review scientific studies, celebrate treatment successes, stress the importance of a genetic diagnosis, and exchange tips on life without insulin injections.
More than 20 percent of deaths in a study of 12,000 Bangladeshis were attributable to arsenic exposure from contaminated drinking water, new research reports. The large 10-year study is the first to prospectively measure the relationship between individual exposure to arsenic and its associated mortality risk.
A rare but fatal disease of blood vessels in the lung may be caused in part by aberrant silencing of genes rather than genetic mutation, new research reports. University of Chicago researchers have now found that a form of epigenetics – the modification of gene expression – causes the disease in an animal model and could contribute to the disease in humans.
Every cell contains machinery for self-destruction, used to induce death when damaged or sick. But according to a new research study, a receptor thought to mediate cell suicide in normal cells may actually be responsible for the unrestrained growth of cancerous tumors.
A mass extinction of fish 360 million years ago hit the reset button on Earth's life, setting the stage for modern vertebrate biodiversity, a new study reports. The mass extinction scrambled the species pool near the time at which the first vertebrates crawled from water towards land, University of Chicago scientists report.
A new class of cancer drugs can be used effectively while minimizing hypertensive side effects if patients' blood pressure is closely monitored and controlled, a clinical panel has determined.
Driven by his mother's health questions and the difficulty of providing simple, reliable answers, Shantanu Nundy, MD, a resident in internal medicine, has collected all of the "generally accepted truths" about preventing disease, organized them into checklists based on age, and published them as Stay Healthy at Every Age.
Nearly 1 in 10 primary care physicians has experienced a conflict with a religiously-affiliated hospital or practice over religious policies for patient care. Most feel that when clinical judgment conflicts with religious hospital policy, physicians should refer patients to another institution.
Daniel Sulmasy, MD, PhD, Professor of Medicine and Ethics in the Dept. of Medicine and the Divinity School, and Assoc. Dir. of the MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics at the University of Chicago, has been named to the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues.
Mitchell Posner, MD, the Thomas D. Jones Professor and vice chairman of surgery and section chief of general and oncologic surgery at the University of Chicago Medical Center, was sworn in as president of the Society of Surgical Oncology on March 6, 2010, at the Society's annual business meeting in St Louis.
At age 55, men can expect another 15 years of sexual activity, but women that age should expect less than 11 years, according to a study by University of Chicago researchers published March 10 by the British Medical Journal. Men in good or excellent health at 55 can add 5 to 7 years to that number. Equally healthy women gain slightly less, 3 to 6 years.
A paralyzed patient implanted with a brain-computer interface device has allowed scientists to determine the relationship between brain waves and attention. The experiments, published this week in the journal Neuron, reveal the intricate dynamics of the attentive brain.
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